---
title: Editor Configuration
description: Learn how to configure and customize the Plate editor.
---

This guide covers the configuration options for the Plate editor, including basic setup, plugin management, and advanced configuration techniques.

## Basic Editor Configuration

To create a basic Plate editor, you can use the `createPlateEditor` function, or `usePlateEditor` in a React component:

```ts
import { createPlateEditor } from 'platejs/react';

const editor = createPlateEditor({
  plugins: [HeadingPlugin],
});
```

### Initial Value

Set the initial content of the editor:

```ts
const editor = createPlateEditor({
  value: [
    {
      type: 'p',
      children: [{ text: 'Hello, Plate!' }],
    },
  ],
});
```

You can also initialize the editor with an HTML string and the associated plugins:

```ts
const editor = createPlateEditor({
  plugins: [BoldPlugin, ItalicPlugin],
  value: '<p>This is <b>bold</b> and <i>italic</i> text!</p>',
});
```

For a comprehensive list of plugins that support HTML string deserialization, refer to the [Plugin Deserialization Rules](/docs/html#plugin-deserialization-rules) section.

### Async Initial Value

If you need to fetch the initial value asynchronously (e.g., from an API), you can pass an async function directly to the `value` option:

```tsx
function AsyncEditor() {
  const editor = usePlateEditor({
    value: async () => {
      // Simulate fetching data from an API
      const response = await fetch('/api/document');
      const data = await response.json();
      return data.content;
    },
    autoSelect: 'end',
    onReady: ({ editor, value }) => {
      console.info('Editor ready with loaded value:', value);
    },
  });

  if (!editor.children.length) return <div>Loading…</div>;

  return (
    <Plate editor={editor}>
      <EditorContainer>
        <Editor />
      </EditorContainer>
    </Plate>
  );
}
```

### Adding Plugins

You can add plugins to your editor by including them in the `plugins` array:

```ts
const editor = createPlateEditor({
  plugins: [HeadingPlugin, ListPlugin],
});
```

### Max Length

Set the maximum length of the editor:

```ts
const editor = createPlateEditor({
  maxLength: 100,
});
```

## Advanced Configuration

### Editor ID

Set a custom id for the editor:

```ts
const editor = createPlateEditor({
  id: 'my-custom-editor-id',
});
```

If defined, you should always pass the `id` as the first argument in any editor retrieval methods.

### Node ID

Plate includes a built-in system for automatically assigning unique IDs to nodes, which is crucial for certain plugins and for data persistence strategies that rely on stable identifiers.

This feature is enabled by default. You can customize its behavior or disable it entirely through the `nodeId` option.

#### Configuration

To configure Node ID behavior, pass an object to the `nodeId` property when creating your editor:

```ts
const editor = usePlateEditor({
  // ... other plugins and options
  nodeId: {
    // Function to generate IDs (default: nanoid(10))
    idCreator: () => uuidv4(),

    // Exclude inline elements from getting IDs (default: true)
    filterInline: true, 

    // Exclude text nodes from getting IDs (default: true)
    filterText: true,

    // Reuse IDs on undo/redo and copy/paste if not in document (default: false)
    // Set to true if IDs should be stable across such operations.
    reuseId: false,

    // Normalize all nodes in initial value (default: false - only checks first/last)
    // Set to true to ensure all initial nodes get IDs if missing.
    normalizeInitialValue: false, 
    
    // Prevent overriding IDs when inserting nodes with an existing id (default: false)
    disableInsertOverrides: false,

    // Only allow specific node types to receive IDs (default: all)
    allow: ['p', 'h1'], 

    // Exclude specific node types from receiving IDs (default: [])
    exclude: ['code_block'],

    // Custom filter function to determine if a node should get an ID
    filter: ([node, path]) => {
      // Example: Only ID on top-level blocks
      return path.length === 1;
    },
  },
});
```

<Callout type="note">
  The `NodeIdPlugin` (which handles this) is part of the core plugins and is automatically included. You only need to specify the `nodeId` option if you want to customize its default behavior.
</Callout>

#### Disabling Node IDs

If you don't need automatic node IDs, you can disable the feature:

```ts
const editor = usePlateEditor({
  // ... other plugins and options
  nodeId: false, // This will disable the NodeIdPlugin
});
```

By disabling this, certain plugins that rely on node IDs will not function properly. The following plugins require block IDs to work:

- **[Block Selection](/docs/block-selection)** - Needs IDs to track which blocks are selected
- **[Block Menu](/docs/block-menu)** - Requires IDs to show context menus for specific blocks  
- **[Drag & Drop](/docs/dnd)** - Uses IDs to identify blocks during drag operations
- **[Table](/docs/table)** - Relies on IDs for cell selection
- **[Table of Contents](/docs/toc)** - Needs heading IDs for navigation and scrolling
- **[Toggle](/docs/toggle)** - Uses IDs to track which toggles are open/closed

### Normalization

Control whether the editor should normalize its content on initialization:

```ts
const editor = createPlateEditor({
  shouldNormalizeEditor: true,
});
```

Note that normalization may take a few dozen milliseconds for large documents, such as the playground value.

### Auto-selection

Configure the editor to automatically select a range:

```ts
const editor = createPlateEditor({
  autoSelect: 'end', // or 'start', or true
});
```

This is not the same as auto-focus: you can select text without focusing the editor.

### Component Overrides

Override default components for plugins:

```ts
const editor = createPlateEditor({
  plugins: [HeadingPlugin],
  components: {
    [ParagraphPlugin.key]: CustomParagraphComponent,
    [HeadingPlugin.key]: CustomHeadingComponent,
  },
});
```

### Plugin Overrides

Override specific plugin configurations:

```ts
const editor = createPlateEditor({
  plugins: [HeadingPlugin],
  override: {
    plugins: {
      [ParagraphPlugin.key]: {
        options: {
          customOption: true,
        },
      },
    },
  },
});
```

### Disable Plugins

Disable specific plugins:

```ts
const editor = createPlateEditor({
  plugins: [HeadingPlugin, ListPlugin],
  override: {
    enabled: {
      [HistoryPlugin.key]: false,
    },
  },
});
```

### Overriding Plugins

You can override core plugins or previously defined plugins by adding a plugin with the same key. The last plugin with a given key wins:

```ts
const CustomParagraphPlugin = createPlatePlugin({
  key: 'p',
  // Custom implementation
});

const editor = createPlateEditor({
  plugins: [CustomParagraphPlugin],
});
```

### Root Plugin

From the root plugin, you can configure any plugin:

```ts
const editor = createPlateEditor({
  plugins: [HeadingPlugin],
  rootPlugin: (plugin) =>
    plugin.configurePlugin(LengthPlugin, {
    options: {
        maxLength: 100,
      },
    }),
});
```

## Typed Editor

`createPlateEditor` will automatically infer the types for your editor from the value and the plugins you pass in. For explicit type creation, use the generics:

### Plugins Type

```ts
const editor = createPlateEditor<Value, typeof TablePlugin | typeof LinkPlugin>({
  plugins: [TablePlugin, LinkPlugin],
});

// Usage
editor.tf.insert.tableRow()
```

### Value Type

For more complex editors, you can define your types in a separate file (e.g., `plate-types.ts`):

```ts
import type { TElement, TText } from 'platejs';
import type { TPlateEditor } from 'platejs/react';

// Define custom element types
interface ParagraphElement extends TElement {
  align?: 'left' | 'center' | 'right' | 'justify';
  children: RichText[];
  type: typeof ParagraphPlugin.key;
}

interface ImageElement extends TElement {
  children: [{ text: '' }]
  type: typeof ImagePlugin.key;
  url: string;
}

// Define custom text types
interface FormattedText extends TText {
  bold?: boolean;
  italic?: boolean;
}

export type MyRootBlock = ParagraphElement | ImageElement;

// Define the editor's value type
export type MyValue = MyRootBlock[];

// Define the custom editor type
export type MyEditor = TPlateEditor<MyValue, typeof TablePlugin | typeof LinkPlugin>;

export const useMyEditorRef = () => useEditorRef<MyEditor>();

// Usage
const value: MyValue = [{
  type: 'p',
  children: [{ text: 'Hello, Plate!' }],
}]

const editorInferred = createPlateEditor({
  plugins: [TablePlugin, LinkPlugin],
  value,
});

// or 
const editorExplicit = createPlateEditor<MyValue, typeof TablePlugin | typeof LinkPlugin>({
  plugins: [TablePlugin, LinkPlugin],
  value,
});
```

